Voices For Life

Voices for Life is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. We cover issues from conception until natural death, as well as all family life issues.

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Monday, October 10, 2016

Nebraska High School Refuses to Allow Student-Led Pro-Life Club

By Josh DentonLive Action NewsGretna High School administration and its lawyers have received a demand letter from the Thomas More Society. The letter charges the Omaha, Nebraska, area school with unconstitutional discrimination of students, after junior Bridget Christensen was denied her right to form a school-sponsored Students for Life club, Dragons for Life. Christensen was thwarted in her attempt to start the student-led pro-life club by school administrators who told her the club was too “religious” and also “controversial,” both of which are illegal reasons to deny the group.

Christensen explained,

“Instead of dedicating my time to educating my peers about abortion and creating a strong Students for Life group at my high school that could be resource for those students facing unplanned pregnancies, I’ve been forced to argue against my own school administrators and fight for my First Amendment rights,” said Christensen, a junior at Gretna High School.

“My school administration has been treating me and my friends who want to the start the Students for Life club like second-class citizens by not allowing us to be a school-sponsored club, even though they allow many other clubs that may be considered controversial. This double standard is discrimination and it’s wrong.”

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Jocelyn Floyd, who serves as lead counsel for Students for Life of America’s high school clubs, noted that the Gretna High School administration response reflects a common misunderstanding of the law.

“Pro-life students are simply asking for equal treatment,” said Floyd, “and this school’s rationale for denying the group is that the club doesn’t tie in with school curriculum—but neither do most of their other clubs.

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